Thursday, September 21, 2017

My dad graduated from high school in 1954 or 1955.I think he attended every class reunion there was until he got sick.I think my mom must have attended all of his high school reunions as well. She has never gone to her own.Nor have I.Mostly I didn't care.I didn't even like high school.Why would I want to go back?

I believe the first high school reunion offered a barbeque at a local park I believe on a Saturday afternoon - and may have attended that one had I been in town, but I was on my mission at the time.The second reunion announced was located at some prestige resort in Park City.I didn't have that much money to spend nor did I believe there would be many there that I would want to see for that much money anyway.I don't remember being invited to another reunion after that - not that it would have mattered. I hung around seniors all three years in high school - and more in the first year than the last two combined.My senior year was actually a lonely memory.Not a lot of good memories there.

Roland and I have a friend in McMinnville who was in Roland's graduating class.Enthusiastically she had contacted us both to say that there was a reunion in New Jersey on September 16, and perhaps the three classmates who ended up in Oregon could meet at Beth's house and talk to their former classmates through Skype.

Roland, Jenna and I left the house just before 8:00 a.m. and headed toward McMinnville.Westopped at the Costco in Salem.Every Costco I have ever been to doesn't open until 10:00.The Costco in Salem opens before 9:00 - that would explain the overly full parking lot at only 10:20.I felt like I was back in Salt Lake with the heavy amount of traffic and somehow felt like an even larger sea of people in the aisles.Did not care for that at all.Don't think I would like to live in Salem after all.

We arrived at Beth's before the other couple.Their former classmate has the same first name as I.Roland did not remember her.But they did remember all of the same people for the most part.They reminisced about those they knew from high school and what things are going on now.Beth could not get her server to work the entire time we were there.Just as well.The phone never rang and so they didn't get to talk with any of their other classmates.But I think they actually enjoyed it more than they would have with wall-to-wall faces and no breathing room.

Graham had prepared a really nice meal for us.There was London Broil, tuna steaks, potato salad, and assorted vegetables.I think the others brought the cheesy potatoes.Graham had also made the best avocado dip I have ever tasted.There was a trifle for dessert.

Beth had asked if we'd be staying overnight.We had packed a bag thinking we might stop in Salem on the way home, but for some reason the car ride home always seems a lot quicker than the destination from home.Roland drove straight to the house.We had only stopped one time to use the facilities.

Between Salem and Eugene Jenna and I watched the sunset for forty minutes.I wish I had pictures of what we saw - but at 65 mph and a point and shoot, I knew the pictures would not capture the true beauty that we had seen.

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Though I have had a small hand and say
in making funeral arrangements, I have not had the opportunity of having to
find a mortuary nor have considered every financial expect.Before either of my parents had passed, there
needed to be a record of what funeral home to contact should they expire.My dad lived out his final days at Cottonwood
Hospital in Murray, Utah.Ironically, he
had also been born there (or so I was told) but at that time it had been called
Cottonwood Maternity Ward and wasn't the full blown hospital where he had died.

Mom had used a local mortuary as a
contact I’m guessing because it was familiar territory as it had been used by
other members of our ward.Before mom
passed, Corey had made arrangements for Premier Funeral – though none of us had
heard of it before, it really does seem the most economical way to go.Premier doesn’t offer a chapel or a
show room in which members can walk around and look at caskets.They offer a catalogue – which I suppose
doesn’t go over well with some people, but Corey and I were fine with it.Premier has a lot to offer – for one thing
the body is embalmed right away – at least where it is possible. (autopsy would be an
exception)

Jeanie was already gone when the paramedics
arrived.Possibly before she fell- or
why she was falling.Her mother said
that seven clots had been found in her lung(s) and not just one.I don’t know what shade she was when the paramedics
arrived or how pale she must have gotten in the morgue.It feels a bit morbid wondering.I
was not impressed with the makeup job - but I have no idea what of Jeanie's
facial condition when she arrived to the mortuary.Perhaps
they had done a marvelous job with the "canvas" given - I just didn't
see that.Mommy and Daddy had looked so
natural, so peaceful, as though they were sleeping.Jeanie looked like a corpse – like in a
really low budget movie when everything looks fake.It appeared that she had jaundice underneath
the make-up.It was hard seeing her like
that.

Biff had never been involved with any
plans concerning funerals – except when we had asked him to be a pall bearer at
my mom’s.But that was the extent of
it.He had never gone to look for a
casket or a burial plot.I’m sure the
funeral home they went through was the same one his in-laws had used when they
had buried their other two children.It
was right next to – perhaps even part of the cemetery.I think Biff just went along with what they
wanted.What did he know?They had been through it before.Roland and I have both gone through it, but
we weren’t there.We weren’t involved
with the decisions or give advice or hold our son’s hand.

I don’t know that his in-laws would
have felt comfortable using Premier as they had the viewing in one location and
the funeral in another.The mortuary was
in a familiar place where family and loved ones had already gathered.They would have had to make arrangements for
another chapel with Premier. But I think they would have saved a tremendous
amount of cost.My son, Randy, had set up a fund for
Biff and his daughter – a plea to help pay for expenses.The goal was to hit 5,000.3,000 had been raised in eight days by 62
different people. I cried every time I would see donations being made.I know there were many who knew Jeanie personally,
but still many that did not know her at all.Some hadn’t even known Biff for that matter, and that touched my
heart.My nephew, Brian, was the first
to contribute to the cause.

I don’t know how many chapels and
"comfort" rooms the funeral home offered.I would guess at least seven.It felt as if there had been seven different
viewings all scheduled for Sunday night.Perhaps there had only been four or five.We had to pass them all in order to get the
room where Jeanie and family were waiting.The lines were long.I’m sure
that is why they had put us at the end.When mom died, we had her at the
Relief Society room in the building where she attended church.We were there Friday night and the mortuary
took her away and brought her back the following morning and then we moved into
the chapel. Premier had driven her back and forth.I'm not knocking the full blown centers but
am in favor of using Premier again.They
did an awesome job for us.I was
overwhelmed by the amount of traffic involved with Jeanie.I never felt overwhelmed with Premier.The situation was always calm and
respectful.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

As
mentioned in this post,I thought
Highway 140 was quite beautiful at some parts and quite scary at others.The idea of a 50 foot drop and no guard rails
is rather creepy.But that is the way
Roland wanted to go - and he was driving.

I
thought 140 seemed scarier driving north than it did driving south - which is
ironic, as the drop is on the south/west side.The drive didn't seem quite as long, either.But Denise and I had taken I5 through Medford
because she wanted to see the temple.I
just had Roland go by way of Highway 138
to Highway 97 where you can choose to go north up through Bend and over through
Boise, or you can drive down south to Lake View and Winnemucca.

The
Nevada route is only about 30 minutes faster than going through Idaho -
provided there isn't any construction or other barriers that might interfere
with the normal route, but going south requires a lot more traction and winding
- which I somehow didn't believe our car could handle.But it did.There were many who'd been praying for our safety and we made good
timing, I think.

Jeanie
passed away on the 6th and our plan was to leave on the 7th.It was Jenna's final week of school and she'd
been planning on dressing up for each day.She'd been looking forward to her final week of school this year and to
watch her 8th grade friends graduate.She cried when Roland told her that she would not return to school.

I
was appalled at Jenna's behavior - obviously thinking more about the
inconvenience of her own plans than for thinking about her brother and the
grief that he may be suffering.Death is
rarely convenient for any of us.I did
talk Roland into allowing her to go to school one last time.We still needed to go to Roseburg to get a
rental car and bring it back to the house in order to pack it up.There is ALWAYS a delay when Roland plans
things.Wednesday was an early day, and
we could check her out even earlier if we needed to.There was no sense for ALL of us to go to
Roseburg, and I didn't want to watch Jenna idling any time that she could have
spent at school.

We
had made arrangements to pick the car up between 8:00 and 8:30.We were contacted by the rental company just
before we left the house.We were told
the car would not be available until later and that they would contact us.We had planned to go to Roseburg on some
other errands - the delay of the rental would make things easier - I thought.Roland could do all the driving and we
wouldn't have to worry about the second car.

The
rental company never called back, and so we decided to just go there.There had been five people waiting for rental
cars.All the cars that were supposed to
be available were still out - all the cars that were on the lot that looked
like they might be available had expired tags.We had tried other options, but are actually limited in Roseburg and
didn't want to gamble on driving another 90 miles to a larger city if we might
encounter the same problem with another rental car company. We still didn't
have a car when Jenna returned home from school and so said a major prayer and
ended up taking our own.

The
GPS was taking us through Sutherlin, but I knew we could get through on 138
which was in the opposite direction.We
probably wasted a half hour driving back and forth before we finally got on
route.Our daughter-in-law, Carrie,
commented that our disability of getting out of Oregon sounded like the makings
for a sitcom.

Roland
said he would return through Boise and Bend.

We passed many orange barrells.

No workers or slowdowns - probably due to the wind - except for after
crossing the border from Idaho into Oregon.Loose gravel caused us to slow down.Tar was being poured ahead.There was actually a utility truck with its flashing lights that led the cars in
either direction - I think it was at least a mile long.I'm not exaggerating.It wasn't bad.It had been the only slow down of the entire
trip.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

I
don't dislike Jack-in-the-Box but I can't say I'm an avid fan of their
food.Jack-in-the-Box does not exist in Salt
Lake, and so the only time I've been is while vacationing on the west coast and
it just happens to be convenient.We've
been to the one in Roseburg a few times, but not very often, which makes me
wonder how it is we had even ended up with three antenna balls.Jenna and Roland like them because it somehow
makes our car easier to spot.Well, I
don't have radar eyes and if it is smaller than the tire, it is not big enough
for my non-observant eyes to spot.

The
wind blew each day during our trip except for the Friday we went to Wheeler
Farm.That day was hot.I suppose if I had a choice, I would take the
wind.I don't guess it would have
mattered.I would have probably felt comatose
either way.Roland says it takes 10 days
to acclimatized.I'd forgotten about the
adjustment we had gone through during those first couple of weeks after we had
arrived in Oregon.Must just have an
effect on older people however.Jenna's
body certainly didn't seem to notice.

It
just feels so weird to me that after having lived in a state for over 50 years
that I would need a longer time to adjust to being there than my vacation time
would allow.Who would have believed I'd
be wiped out so quickly?In addition to
dry throats and fatigue, I was experiencing heat rash.That was a new one for me.

Our
first day on the road landed us in the small town of Lake View.The wind was blowing really hard.

I asked the waitress if it was normal.She seemed a little freaked about it when she
answered,

"NO!Not even in March.That's when we get the most wind.But nothing like this!"

I don't
think it was windy when we'd gone through Nevada.But it wasn't as hot as I think of Nevada as
normally being. Although it was windy in Salt Lake, it wasn't as windy as it had
been during our travel.Especially on
the return back to Oregon.Once the rain
stopped, Roland was hanging onto the wheel trying to keep the car on the
road. I asked him if he felt like he was driving through the eye of the storm. He said yes.

Tractor Trailers (another name for
Semi-Trucks or 18wheelers; a name I actually never understood until watching
them moving with the wind) would pass us by and the "trailer" part
would be swinging all over the road.

I saw a
green mile sign that was bent in half (couldn't even read how far apart what
towns they were as the information was upside down)

I think
the face of our first Jack antennaball
we had just faded in the sun.But Roland
claims that the wind blew them off sometime during our travels.

Friday, May 26, 2017

When I was 7th grade, the mandatory
history class focused on American history and Utah history.We had first did a brief study on Europe and
the reasons given for explorers making their way to the American
continent.

I don't recall a lot on
either Revolutionary or Civil Wars though I'm certain that each was mentioned.We cruise through Utah history as 95% of the
class had been raised in the LDS church and obviously knew more about Utah's
history than the text book - which had Joseph Smith martyred by hanging - in
Utah.Joseph Smith was not hung nor did he
live long enough to see the Church move toward the Utah territory.

That is just one example that I
remember.The instructor was not LDS,
but he could see that the class wasn't going to budge - weather right or wrong.
I think we ended up skipping three chapters.It was toward the end of the year anyway.So how much of what we had already learned
had even been accurate?The entire book
could have been done on speculation without resources to back up the so called
information.

Jenna's social studies have been focusing
on pyramids and castles????? That's all well and good for those of us who live
abroad, but wouldn't it actually be more useful and beneficial to start with
your own state and country before expanding into places you might not actually
ever get to.I'm almost 55 years
old.The only castle that I've seen is
the one Walt Disney had built for Disneyland.It doesn't fit the history of the castles that Jenna has been learning
about.

We live in Oregon now.I want to know about Oregon, specifically
Douglas County.I want to know the
history of the things that are tangible to me - not the man-made architectures
that I may never see.All history is
important - but not all are priorities - not for me anyway.I've been trying to understand this county
ever since we got here.

The other day I was visiting with my
friend Carolyn (mentioned in this post) and she showed me a Douglas County visitors guide
(2017) that had come with the latest edition of the newspaper she recieves (I'm
guessing Sunday's edition of the News Review)

I'm aware that there are many who may
live in a state or country all of their lives and not see any tourist
attractions.I am proud to say that I
have seen (or are at least familiar with) more than half of what is considered
Douglas County's top 10.

Before we were fully unpacked, one of
the first things that we looked into was getting library cards. Roland found a
video of the Roseburg Blast.Wow!Very informative.It was mind blowing, heart breaking . . .
very well done, I thought.Certainly a
lot more informative and more impressive than the Douglas Museum of History and
Natural History.After having visited
many museums in Salt Lake City, the Douglas Museum was actually quite
disappointing.In this case, I am happy
to have watched the video first.

published August 7, 1959

I'd taken pictures of the lumber yards
shortly after we moved here.Some of
these I've already posted back in 2015.

taken in Riddle

Glendale

Even Myrtle Creek had once thrived on
lumber dependency.See here and here

from the Myrtle Creeks Day Parade July 2015

This was the picture in the News Review brochure

Ireland Trucking participates in July and December parades

I
had only learned about the owls earlier this month.

Roseburg isn't always windy, but does
seem to be windier than myrtle creek.Just this past Saturday we had looked sheds before moving to inside the
store and finding plastic owls and other finds for our yard and house.The wind was howling something fierce and it
felt like the tin sheds would rip out and blow away.

I have been to Crater Lake only
once.This picture was taken in
September when my brother Corey, came to visit.

taken September 2015

I have not heard of Little River Rapids.I have pictures of both north and south Umpqua rivers.Mostly South - as the Umpqua bridge in these photos takes you from I5 ramp 108 to downtown Myrtle Creek

North Umpqua September 2015

North Umpqua July 2016

South Umpqua from railroad tracks of 4th St. January 2017

North Umpqua July 2016

South Umpqua November 2015

South Umpqua January 2017

South Umpqua November 2015

South Umpqua March 2017

I have not been to Yoncalla.I am familiar with its name and location on
the map

now called Yoncalla High; taken from web

I think we had gone to Drain when we
were looking at houses.I would have
guessed "Douglas High" would have been in Roseburg

I am so NOT into sports.

scanned from News Review's Visitor's Guide 2017

In addition to the 10 things to know
were articles that featured great parks to visit, spectacular waterfalls (I had
only been to Watson)

Watson falls from Corey's photos

and music.

Also a little blurb on Diamond Lake.Corey and I stopped by to take pictures when
he was here in September 2015.

I cropped this from one I had taken at Diamond Lake

Corey took this one of me

There was also an article that
featured Historic Oakland a city north of Roseburg.

We missed the 2016 event, but I will be
certain to put this on my agenda for 2018.

About Me

I am a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend . . . I am a memory preserver and I enjoy learning. I have read a few Blogs and am a bit reluctant about starting my own. I don't believe I have anything pertinant to add to the Bloggers walk of life. (to learn why this blog is so named, read my first post created January 1, 2012) http://beneaththewraps.blogspot.com/2012/01/introduction-beneath-wraps.html